Events

At this writing I'm just west of the Alexander Archipelago, with 7,093 km left from Dallas to Seoul. We started out at 10,999 km, so this is serious progress. It turns out, this is the longest flight I've ever been on. I didn't realize that when I booked it; I thought Shanghai to O'Hare was longer. Well, it's farther: PVG-ORD is 11,355 km; DFW-ICN is "only" 11,005 km. But because I'm flying west, this flight will be nearly two hours longer than the one from Shanghai. Fortunately for me (if not for the...

"Short" in geologic times. I'm at Dallas-Fort Worth, with about half an hour to start diagnosing a production issue. Then I'll be on a plane for about 14 hours. Here's the plane: You know how you always forget something when you travel? This time it was my guidebook. Lonely Planet Seoul does no good back home on my bookshelf.

Oh, you betcha: On a year-over-year basis, average connection speeds grew by 25 percent. South Korea had an average speed of 14 Mbps while Japan came in second with 10.8 Mbps and the U.S. came in the eighth spot with 7.4 Mbps. Year-over-year, global average peak connection speeds once again demonstrated significant improvement, rising 35 percent. Hong Kong came in first with peak speed of 57.5 Mbps while South Korea came in at 49.3 Mbps. The United States came in 13th at 31.5 Mbps. Yes, South Korea has...

With only a few hours to go before I jet out of Chicago, I'm squeezing in client work and organizing my apartment while on conference calls. Also, I'm sending these to my Kindle: Chinese airlines are chipping away at United. Israel is freaking out about our Iran deal. California's high-speed rail project is in trouble. The Republican Party is lying about the ACA, again. Apparently you can use Azure storage on a Windows phone. Commuters in France can learn English on the train, which sounds like a great...

Illinois' marriage equality act doesn't take effect for 7 months, but Federal District Judge Thomas Durkin (and I) believes the law's passage is enough to let a couple settle their affairs as they intended: Vernita Gray and Patricia Ewert, will be issued their license early by the Cook County clerk’s office because one of the women is currently battling terminal cancer, their attorneys said. County Clerk David Orr said he would comply with the order by U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin Orr said he...

Wow, this weekend was busier than I anticipated. You know what's coming. Links! From the Washington Post, the IRS will have a helluva job enforcing the ACA; The Sun-Times has yet another example of government capture in Chicago; We're almost out of effective antibiotics, and that's not good; Charlie Trotter died of a stroke brought on by high blood pressure; and Note to self: Don't let Parker eat a pile of cheese unless you're prepared to walk him every three hours the next day. Oh, and we're out of...

Tomorrow afternoon is the Day of the Doctor already, and then in a little more than four days I'm off to faraway lands. Meanwhile, I'm watching a performance test that we'll repeat on Monday after we release a software upgrade. So while riveted to this Live Meeting session, I am pointedly not reading these articles: A Times editorial about soil bacteria and how we screwed up the prairies; John Gray eviscerating Malcom Gladwell; Alec MacGillis praising Harry Reid; and Scott Hanselman explaining node.js...

As interesting as infrastructure is to most people, it's possible this was a bigger story yesterday: Gov. Pat Quinn on Wednesday put his signature on a historic measure making Illinois the 16th state to allow same-sex marriage, capping a 40-year push for gay rights that picked up major momentum during the past decade. The bill-signing illustrated the rapidly changing views in Illinois and the nation on gay rights. Supporters first introduced an anti-discrimination bill in the legislature in 1974. It...

After a year, the Wells Street bridge has reopened: Just before 6:15 a.m., construction workers in reflective vests and hard hats dragged orange traffic barrels to the sidewalk, clearing the traffic lanes for the first time since last November. Moments later, the first person crossed the bridge: Bike messenger Lionel Floyd. He pedaled south and appeared surprised to see a crowd of reporters waiting for him at Wacker Drive. The $50 million reconstruction was aimed at extending the lifespan of the while...

After some thought and reflection, I realize I've spent more time in some parts of North America than I remembered the other day: As before, red are places I've been to but not stayed overnight; amber indicates at least one overnight; blue shows multiple visits; and green means I've lived, worked, or spent more than 30 aggregate days there. The mapping applet is here.